Regal affair

A blue and black evening dress worn by the late Princess Diana during the 1980s has fetched a record amount, 11 times its estimate, at a California-based auction house.

Julien’s Auctions, based in Beverly Hills, announced late on Monday that the dress, designed by Moroccan-British fashion designer Jacques Azagury, was sold for $1,143,000, smashing the previous record of $604,800.

The late British royal wore the dress, which features a black velvet bodice embroidered with stars, in Italy’s Florence in April 1985, and in Vancouver, Canada, in May 1986. The dress was sold along with a matching illustration as part of Julien’s ‘Hollywood Legends’ auction, which ended on Sunday.

The sale also featured a blush-pink chiffon blouse worn by Diana in her engagement portrait in 1981. It sold for $381,000, almost four times its estimate. In September, a red sweater featuring a black sheep among rows of white ones worn by the late Princess had fetched more than $1.1 million at an auction in Sotheby’s, New York.

According to Sotheby’s, Diana wore the Warm and Wonderful — a British luxury knitwear brand — sweater in 1981 to a polo match of Prince Charles. The sweater, which was unearthed in an attic in March, commanded a higher price than many other objects tied to the “People’s Princess” that were sold at auctions in recent years. The sweater’s design is often described as symbolic of Diana’s place within the royal family.